Why Coaching your Employees Makes a BIG DIFFERENCE
Cathie Leimbach • July 5, 2021
You may know that coaching your employees on an ongoing basis will increase their performance, reduce the line of people outside your office door, and reinforce training. Here is an interesting statistic – after employees receive training, they only implement about 10% of what is learned without ongoing follow-up and coaching.
Effective coaching of your employees will result in more confident, better trained, and more engaged employees. Coaching, rather than telling, creates future capacity in your employees. Here are some of the benefits:
- Employees are encouraged to succeed in their roles, surpass their goals, and sometimes are surprised at how much more effective they have become.
- It increases engagement – employees feel heard and that their contribution is valued.
- Your employees are coached to find solutions and answers themselves, leading to solid leadership skills and good behaviors.
- Employees become more motivated.
- Morale is increased throughout teams as each employee is equipped with more skills and confidence.
There are challenges for Managers wanting to coach rather than instruct. Ongoing coaching of your team will empower them to be more effective, creative, and confident. This helps your bottom line. Like all skills, developing coaching skills requires training and reinforcement from the organization. The reasons why it is challenging to implement coaching include:
- Managers lack knowledge about how to do it effectively.
- It feels time-consuming.
- Managers are often promoted based on technical skills, and coaching can feel awkward to them.
There is an accessible 12 step format to effective ongoing employee coaching:
- Give employees regular, frequent feedback. Employees crave constructive feedback from their managers. Look at our previous articles on providing positive and corrective feedback.
- Create a culture of feedback within your team. Encourage employees to provide feedback to each other and you.
- Push your employees by motivating them to get out of their comfort zone and perform to their potential. Their abilities and confidence will grow.
- Be open to employee ideas. We have previously talked about asking open-ended questions. When employees feel their opinion is respected and valued, they are more likely to be engaged and push harder.
- Encourage employees to learn from others. Connecting with their peers opens new possibilities and creates a more connected team. Encourage employees to learn from others.
- Ask employees for their opinions. This creates an open dialogue, encourages employee input, and provides an opportunity to coach.
- Build confidence. Confident employees achieve goals. Look for ways to coach each employee to set reasonable goals and recognize them for their strong performance and extra effort.
- Don’t do their work for them. If an assignment is going sideways, it is tempting to take it into your own hands and complete it. Instead, coach them on how to handle the situation by using open-ended questions to help them navigate through possible solutions to come to the best outcome.
- Tolerate and support failure. Do a second look. Make every failure a learning opportunity. Review what went wrong and talk through how to succeed in the next project.
- Recognize employees often. Don’t forget to celebrate success frequently. Little acknowledgments go a long way toward securing buy-in and building a stronger team. Praise much more often than you offer suggestions for improvement.
- Identify goals with the employees. Be clear about your expectations. See our recent goal-setting article for tips on how to do this.
- Ask what you can do to help. Let your team know they can come to you for help, AND use open-ended questions to help them arrive at their solutions after some brainstorming with you.
Coaching your employees is key to increasing output, engagement, and morale. Your job as a manager is to enable the success of each member. Next week we will provide some examples of effective coaching dialogue.
"I thought you knew I appreciated your work." Kate hadn't planned to say those words in a one-to-one. But when a team member told her, "I'm never quite sure whether you think I'm doing a good job," she was caught off guard. He was someone she relied on. He helped new colleagues settle in, handled difficult customers calmly, and often spotted problems before they got bigger. Of course she valued him. Then she tried to remember the last time she'd told him, and what she'd actually said. There was a quick "Thanks, everyone" at the end of a meeting. A "Great work" in a team email. But she couldn't recall ever telling him what she had noticed about his contribution. Kate had been worried about rising absences and a team that seemed less involved. Praise wouldn't explain or fix every issue. Still, this conversation raised a question she hadn't considered: how many people on her team were feeling their efforts weren’t noticed or appreciated? It's easy to assume people know we appreciate them, especially the ones who quietly get on with the job. We turn our attention to whatever needs fixing, and we don’t acknowledge the people who are doing good work. Meanwhile, people who never receive thanks start to wonder if they are noticed, pull back, stop offering their ideas, and start job hunting elsewhere. Try this week: Look for one contribution each person on your team is making . Tell them what you notice about their work and why it matters. Instead of simply saying, "Good job," try: "Thanks for staying ten minutes past shift change to walk Jamie through the new changeover on Line 3. She now knows exactly what to do instead of guessing." Three elements of meaningful praise are: Be specific. Name what they did and the effect it had. Keep it natural and proportionate. A quiet word can mean a lot. Recognition doesn’t have to be in front of the whole team. Let it stand on its own. Don’t add a "but" or a new request right after the positive feedback. Sincere, specific praise helps people feel seen. It builds rapport because you're showing you notice how they contribute, not just whether the task got done. And people are more likely to speak up and share ideas when they feel heard and connected to the people they work with. Conversation is Where Leadership Happens™ How often does your appreciation go unspoken? Join our Workplace Conversations Clinic on October 19, 3:00 to 3:30 PM, live on Zoom. You'll practice giving praise that feels natural and helps people feel valued. You'll also have the chance to practice other difficult workplace conversations, from raising concerns to working through disagreements. Reserve your place here!
“All good,” they said. But Sarah wasn’t so sure. In the team meeting, just two people did most of the talking. Team members who once offered ideas just waited for the meeting to end. Three people called in 'sick' on the day of our monthly planning and progress-review meeting. Today was just another day with her disengaged team. Sarah realized that whenever she asked others how things were going, she got the same response: “All good.” It never failed that within a day or two of what seemed like positive feedback, a problem surfaced. It might be that they didn't know how to proceed with a new project. Or they were trying to hide a mistake they made. Things definitely were not "All Good". Then, she thought about the questions she usually asked. “Everything on track?” “Will that be ready by Friday?” She wanted to know how her people were progressing with their work. But she had asked closed-ended questions, so she got brief responses that told her nothing. At her next one-to-one, she asked, “How have things been for you lately?” “Fine. Busy.” She almost moved on. But, instead, she dug a bit deeper. “What’s been making things especially busy?” This time, the answer was different. There were competing demands she hadn’t known about. A concern that had gone unspoken. And a feeling that nobody really talked anymore unless they needed help with something urgent. This one conversation provided important information. It gave her a place to start moving forward to improve engagement and results. If you can relate to Sarah's struggles, here are some tips to help you stay on top of how your employees' work is truly going. Absenteeism and disengagement can have many causes. We can't begin to understand them by accepting thoughtless answers. We need to create an environment where people feel comfortable sharing what’s really happening. Interpersonal rapport is essential. It grows through small moments: asking a thoughtful question, listening without rushing to solve a concern, remembering what someone said, and checking back. This week, try asking a couple of specific open-ended questions such as: “What’s been going well for you?" And "What’s been difficult?” Let the answers guide your next questions. Give the person room to share. Then, a few days later, follow up. “You mentioned the client report deadline was going to be hard to meet. How’s it going?” Then, "What help do you need?" When you take a few minutes for such check-ins, employees feel more supported than if you just ask, “How are you?”, as you are walking by. It indicates: I heard your concern. I remembered. I’m interested. I want you to succeed. Your team members are more likely to get involved, be honest with you, and share ideas when they feel heard and connected to the people they work with. Want to get more comfortable starting those conversations? Join our Workplace Conversations Clinic on October 19 to practice building interpersonal rapport through conversations that matter. Reserve your place → [registration link]
